


Waiting For Romeo

by littlemisstpk



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: F/F, F/M, First years as third years, Mutual Pining, they're both nervous messes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:36:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21884608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlemisstpk/pseuds/littlemisstpk
Summary: Yachi reflects on her relationship with Yamaguchi.
Relationships: Shimizu Kiyoko/Yachi Hitoka (one sided), Yachi Hitoka/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Comments: 8
Kudos: 38





	Waiting For Romeo

It's always just after Golden Week where Yachi Hitoka finally catches her breath from the new school year starting. There were the new first year sign up forms to sort through (a lot since the start of Karasuno's return as a proper volleyball powerhouse), ordering new practice gear, and setting up her notebooks to track player progress. The ultimate fear of forgetting the new players' names has (mostly) subsided; she even has two managers-in-training--Miura and Kondo--to help manage the organized chaos of over thirty rambunctious boys crammed into a single, not large gym. 

The spring chill in the breeze has mostly subsided, and in the mid-May air, she leans over the railing just outside of their club room, and watches as the team gradually moves in the direction of practice. Her fellow third years normally stay close together, but Hinata and Kageyama have both gone ahead to practice an already perfect quick, leaving Yamaguchi and Tsukishima behind, dawdling just outside the club building in the courtyard below. Her heart skips a beat: Yamaguchi had grown just enough to approach 190 cm, and had filled out with enough muscle that girls now blushed as he walked down the hallway to talk to her about something team related. 

He catches her staring at him, and smiles brightly in her direction. Hitoka startles as they make eye contact, and he moves towards her before she can run off into the ether to dig a hole and hide her head in the pit until the sting of shame leaves her body, approximately ten years from now. 

"Yachi! Do you have the numbers on how everyone is doing on serves?" Yamaguchi gives her blood pressure a break, and turns to the mundane captain-manager conversation that will be her salvation over the coming year. 

She pulls a notebook out of the bag sitting by her feet, only a couple pages in, but containing the information he was looking for. "I was hoping we could go over this after practice." Hitoka realizes very quickly that this could be construed as far more forward than intended, leaving her to backpedal and stammer. "I mean, only if you want to. I'm good any time it's convenient." 

Yamaguchi smiles even wider, and as he walks closer to the building, Hitoka grips the railing even more tightly as she leans forward, crumpling the notebook under her grip. She has always felt the force of gravity reeling her in whenever Yamaguchi was close to her, and it's almost as strong as Kiyoko's iron clad orbit that made Hitoka blindly join the club just to be around her. 

She quickly shoulders her bag, and while she shoves her notes in the haphazardly open bag, she catches the side along the metal posts of the railing, sending the souvenir volleyball charm attached to her bag hurtling towards the ground. Kiyoko had gotten Hitoka when they were in Tokyo, the last time they both watched a game as students, and holds a lot of sentimentality. Her face drops as the bauble plummets to the ground below, and a cry catches in the back of her throat as she reaches over the edge, a futile act. 

Yamaguchi catches it mid-air, and holds it up between outstretched fingers to demonstrate its safety to her. She lets out the breath she had been holding, but it's a short lived thing, as Yamaguchi makes his way up the stairs toward the club room. The familiar panic rises within her as he gets closer and closer, until she's certain that her face is blue from lack of air. He holds out his hand, and offers her the broken charm. His smile is soft but his eyes hold just enough fear that Hitoka can relax just enough to get a deep breath of fresh air. 

Taking the ornament from Yamaguchi, their hands brush against each other, and the contact is along the lines of what Hitoka imagines lightning feeling like, if the pain was in fact pleasure instead. Both of them pull their hands away simultaneously, as if that split second of contact was enough to burn their skin irreparably. It's a moment frozen in time, the electricity between them turning into static that threatens to unleash at the lightest touch. 

"Yamaguchi,--" both him and Hitoka turn toward where Tsukishima is standing-- "Stop flirting with your girlfriend and get practice started." 

Hitoka's face becomes very warm, and her hands cover as much of the red flush as possible.

(It can never cover one hundred percent of her embarrassment, but she can certainly try her best to hide in plain sight.) 

Through her fingers, she notices that Yamaguchi has hesitated, the intense blush on his cheeks strong enough to make his prominent freckles much less noticeable. He's opted for the much more difficult to pull off, 'fake it 'til you make it,' calling out a simple apology to Tsukishima. Before Yamaguchi takes off towards the gym, he pauses, and there's enough of an awkwardness in his smile that makes Hitoka's heart soar within her chest at the lovely imperfection of the moment.

Miura comes from around the corner, and she towers over Yachi, arms crossed over her chest. Just behind the second year, Kondo looks on with interest, whatever lingering anxiety she holds about being the newest manager falling away far more quickly than it ever did for Hitoka. The pair of knowing smiles trained on Hitoka set off every alarm bell within her; she grabs her bag and rushes off to the gym without another word.

She slides open the gym door, and her eyes immediately gravitate towards her fellow third years. Kageyama is calmly talking with Tsukishima while pushing down on Hinata’s face, to very loud protests from the shorter player who now positively towers over Hitoka. Yamaguchi is distracted by a first year asking him about serving. She takes out the now-crumpled notebook, and flashes it towards her friend. 

Things would all change within a year, but as she takes in the team captain, Hitoka realizes that just as much will remain the same. While she approaches the pair with her notebook of numbers, she's not sure which direction her friendship with Yamaguchi will turn, but in the end, the future doesn't really matter if her present is just as good.


End file.
